When Shaakir Lindsey was sent to the bench with his second foul just 2:07 into the game, it appeared Teaneck would be in serious trouble without its point guard and floor leader. Instead, the Bergen County school responded with arguably its best stretch of the season.

Teaneck, No. 13 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, would score 12 of the next 14 points and never looked back as it defeated No. 12 Newark Tech, 88-60, in the semifinals of the Jingle Bell Jubilee in Paterson.

Teaneck will face Hackensack in the championship game on Sunday at 7 p.m.

"Really I've been waiting all year to see what would happen if we didn't have him," Teaneck coach Jerome Smart said. "That was a pleasant surrprise."

Teaneck (5-1) held a 6-4 lead when Lindsey went to the bench, but didn't miss a beat. Joel Hernandez answered with a pair of free throws and then Ceasar DeJesus scored on a put-back. A Hernandez 3-pointer made it a double-digit lead for Teaneck and an old-fashioned three-point play made it 23-10 after the first quarter.

"We look to (Shaakir) to handle the ball the majority of the time," senior forward Marcus Fulmore said. "We all just got in a circle and said we got to pick it up for a lost teammate."

Lindsey returned for the start of the second quarter, but Teaneck's high-tempo offense didn't slow down as it scored the first eight points of the second quarter and took a 22-point lead into the half.

"They play a helter-skelter type of tempo," Newark Tech coach Joe Jordan said. "We went into the helter-skelter tempo with them and they're better at that than us."

Lindsey would lead all scorers with 20 points and add four assists. Hernandez had 19 points and 11 rebounds. Fulmore had 12 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Myles McLeod scored 10 points with seven rebounds and DeJesus added nine points.